HELSINKI COMMISSION TO HOLD HEARING ON UKRAINE

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission), and Co-Chairman Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL) announced today that they will hold a hearing:

“Ukraine: Moving Beyond Stalemate?”

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

10:00 a.m.

SVC 201/200 (Capitol Visitor Center)

President Victor Yanukovych’s narrow victory over former Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko in February’s run-off election opens a new chapter in Ukraine’s ongoing post-Orange Revolution transition. Despite the election receiving high marks from international observers and Ukraine being the most free and democratic of the post-Soviet non-Baltic states, the country faces numerous internal challenges: digging itself out of the economic crisis, reducing its energy dependence on Russia, combating pervasive corruption, strengthening rule of law, and overcoming five years of frequent policy deadlock.

At the first hearing since Yanukovich’s election, the Commission will examine the new challenges and prospects Ukraine faces domestically and internationally and their implications for U.S. policy toward this strategically important country.

Witnesses scheduled to testify:

Daniel A. Russell, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, Department of State

Damon Wilson, Vice President and Director of the International Security Program, Atlantic Council